


Simple Questions

by ghostbunny



Category: Dragon Age II
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-14 17:01:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28674156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghostbunny/pseuds/ghostbunny
Summary: Garrett turns his head and is met with the sight of golden hair and pale freckled skin. He sucks in a breath as he tries to remember inviting Anders into his bed last night. It’s all still sort of foggy but he has to admit it does sound like something he would do.
Relationships: Anders/Male Hawke
Comments: 6
Kudos: 29





	Simple Questions

**Author's Note:**

> A little fic I wrote for a tumblr prompt. It was supposed to be 'there was only one bed' but ended up more like 'there was probably more than one bed but we're going to share anyway for... reasons'. I hope you like it and thank you for reading!

Garrett wakes feeling a little like Parsley might have fallen asleep on top of his head last night. He knows it’s probably not the case because—well, mostly because he remembers that there had been drinking last night but also because there are probably a lot more comfortable places for a full-grown mabari to sleep in the house and he likes to think that Parsley has some sense. 

So the headache is most likely because of the party, which hadn’t really been meant to be a party but sort of ended up that way after dinner became drinks and Wicked Grace and that became more drinks and lounging by the fire, listening to Orana play her lute. And after that it’s sort of a blur but it’s not hard to imagine that it ended with none of them in any state to walk back to their own corners of Kirkwall and Garrett inviting them to stay. 

It certainly would explain the feeling of warmth at his side and the slow steady sound of breathing from someone who is definitely not Parsley on the pillow beside him. Garrett turns his head and is met with the sight of golden hair and pale freckled skin. He sucks in a breath as he tries to remember inviting Anders into his bed last night. It’s all still sort of foggy but he has to admit it does sound like something he would do. 

He has a little feel about and affirms that, yes, he is still wearing clothes. It’s actually a relief because while he may have given some thought to certain activities involving Anders and varying degrees of nudity, if anything like that ever were to happen, Garrett thinks that’s something he’d prefer to remember. 

He looks into the face of the sleeping man beside him and slowly it starts to come back to him: Anders accompanying him to his room, putting him to bed and bringing him a cup of water. He’d talked about leaving then and Garrett had asked him to stay. No—he’d pleaded with him to stay. Made up all sorts of excuses for why the walk back to Darktown was inadvisable at this hour and everyone else was staying anyway and look, the bed is plenty big enough for both of them. “I’ll keep my hands to myself, I promise,” he recalls saying and nearly groans at the memory, thinking now that if Anders hadn’t been feeling awkward before then Garrett’s complete lack of subtlety had probably done the trick. 

He remembers how Anders’ face had only just been visible in the low firelight but it had been enough to make out the uncertainty there. Garrett can hardly believe it but somehow he’d looked tempted. Being Anders, however, he’d had to hold himself back. And Garrett—being _drunk_ —had refused to let him. 

“I’d just feel better knowing you were safe,” Garrett had told him.

Anders had rolled his eyes. “I’m quite capable of taking care of myself, you know,” he had said back. But he’d also smiled and Garrett had just grinned in response because he knew then that he had him.

Soon after that he must have fallen asleep because he doesn’t remember much else. Just the triumphant feeling at seeing Anders sigh and climb into bed with him. He’d left his coat and boots downstairs but kept the rest of his clothes on as he joined Garrett beneath the heavy blankets. From what he can remember of it now, he can’t believe Anders had indulged him. Garrett had been drunk but Anders hadn’t had that excuse. He must just be that persuasive. 

Looking at him now, Garrett’s never seen him looking so comfortable, his face relaxed and his hair mussed up from sleep, half out of its ponytail, golden strands falling haphazardly about his sleeping face. He has the blanket pulled up to his chin, one hand clutched around it. Garrett doesn’t quite want to look away but his head still aches and his mouth is dry. The call of the cup of water Anders left out for him the night before is more alluring even than the sight of Anders sleeping next to him. Which is saying something, really. He’s thought about this, Anders—specifically, sharing a bed with him—a lot over the few years he’s known him. Long enough to have stopped expecting it would ever actually happen.

They’re just friends after all. But sometimes friends might share a bed if it’s convenient to do so. 

Garrett stifles a sigh and pushes himself up just far enough to reach the cup of water to soothe his parched throat. He gulps down half of the contents then returns the cup to its place on the bedside table just in time to notice Anders stirring, warm amber eyes blinking open and slowly coming to focus on Garrett as he settles back down beside him.

“Good morning,” says Garrett, more brightly than he feels. But it never hurts to be friendly. Since they’re friends and all, sharing a bed out of convenience because friends do that sometimes. Not like one has been secretly pining over the other for three years without ever really knowing where they stand because sometimes there’s been flirting but it always seems to end with the other pulling away and it’s just hard to know what it really means when that keeps happening. 

Besides friendship, that is. Friendship seems like a solid bet. That’s what Garrett keeps telling himself.

Anders is really cute in the morning, Garrett thinks, with his mussed up hair and his eyes struggling to open all the way. The little croak in his voice as he replies, “Morning.”

Garrett rolls over onto his side to smile at him. He can’t really help it. It feels like a rare opportunity to observe this sleepy morning Anders, one he shouldn’t waste, hangover or no hangover. He wonders if Anders will stay for breakfast. He hopes so.

“What is it?” mumbles Anders eyeing Garrett’s smile. 

“Nothing.” Garrett keeps grinning. “Just… your hair.” Then he can’t help himself, he reaches over and smooths a few of the dark blond strands out of his face and that seems to wake him up. Anders’ face turns slightly pink. Garrett pulls his hand back. “Sorry.”

“It’s… okay,” Anders tells him. He looks at Garrett properly now, wearing this little ironic smile. “You’re awfully chipper in the morning. How are you feeling?”

“Like shit,” Garrett laughs. “I’m never drinking again.”

Anders smirks back at him. “I believe you. Come here…” He reaches out to touch his fingers to the side of Garrett’s face. Then he smooths his thumb over his brow, leaving a trail of cool soothing magic in its wake.

“That feels nice,” Garrett murmurs. 

“That’s the idea.”

His eyes flutter closed as Anders pushes fingers back into his hair, indulging him in a way that feels maybe a little bit more than friendly but Garrett thinks he probably shouldn’t push his luck by trying to read into it.

“Feel better?”

Garrett nods. He opens his eyes and his breath catches to find Anders watching him with a warm look on his face that can only be described as tender. He takes his hand back and Garrett lets out a little whine at the loss of the touch. 

Anders’ eyes are alight with amusement. “If you had your way I think I’d be staying here pampering you all day.”

“Is that an offer?”

Anders shakes his head against the pillow, smiling. “You’re like a puppy.”

“Fluffy and loveable?”

“Needy.”

“What?” Garrett laughs. “Well, I suppose it’s a good thing you like animals.”

“I like cats.”

“It’s all the same thing really.”

“It’s really not,” Anders says dryly but the look in his eyes is fond. He reaches out and resumes lightly brushing his fingers through Garrett’s hair. “I’ll make an exception for you.”

Garrett sighs in contentment and shuffles in closer. 

It’s strange. He thought it would be awkward but it’s not. Now Anders is awake, it just feels… natural. Like they might have woken up this way a hundred times before. “We should do this more often,” Garrett says, the thought tumbling from his lips before he has a chance to consider the wisdom of saying it aloud. 

Anders surprises him by answering, “Hmm… maybe we should.”

Garrett smiles hopefully at him. He’d sort of expected Anders to start pulling away by now because that’s what usually happens. But instead he’s just peering back at him looking thoughtful and happy in a way that Garrett wishes he would look more often. He thinks there’s a good chance he’s looking back in the very same way. And he thinks that maybe sometimes people will tell themselves that they’re going to sleep in the same bed because they’re friends and it’s convenient but that might not really be the reason for it at all. There could be a lot of reasons, not all of them to do with it being dangerous to walk home alone at night. It could be because you just really love another person’s company. So much that you don’t want to think of them going to sleep every night in some dingy old clinic in the undercity when they could come back here and wake up with you each morning and sleep close by your side every night. Sometimes you just want all the time with that person you can get. And sometimes that’s a bit like friendship but sometimes it might be something a little bit more. 

That’s something Garrett thinks he’d really like to try out with Anders. Just to see if he might be right. But he’s not quite sure how to say all that. It’s an awful lot of words for something that seems very simple when he’s looking into Anders’ eyes and feeling the touch of his fingertip light against the curve of his ear. And there are simpler ways of asking. 

When Garrett kisses Anders it feels just as easy, just as natural as all the rest. Anders doesn’t pull away but moves closer instead. Their movements are soft and lazy in the quiet early morning and it feels like a simple answer to that very simple question. Garrett kisses him, asking _will you stay?_ and Anders pulls him closer and tells him _yes._


End file.
